No reports of injuries to crew or passengers on train, which struck car at crossing near Lidlington on Tuesday morning

A driver was killed after his car was struck by a train at a level crossing in Bedfordshire, police have said. The incident occurred near Lidlington at about 10am on Tuesday.

A British transport police spokesman said: “At present the man’s death is not being treated as suspicious. However, officers continue to examine exactly how the car came to be on the tracks.”

There were no injuries reported on the London Midland train, which was carrying 11 passengers and two crew.

A spokesman for Network Rail, which manages level crossings in Britain, said: “We are assisting emergency services with an incident at Marston level crossing, near Bedford, in which a train has collided with a car. British transport police are investigating the cause of the incident.”

According to Network Rail’s website, around 36 trains and 1,200 vehicles use the crossing each day. Trains can pass through at up to 60mph and the crossing has automatic barriers which cover half of the road.

I really don't know how that could have happened. I have been caught there with the barrier down waiting for the train to pass through.He must have seen the signals. The same arrangement is at Millbrook. I don't really understand how he could have missed the warning signs.You would have to very foolish to try and beat the warning signs.

I have no knowledge of what happened in this case, but I can think of two possibilities as to the cause - there could have been a technical malfunction, where the gates should be down, but were not, or, (& I have seen this happen at other crossings on the same line), the gates close, & for quite a long period, no train comes, so the person at the front of the queue decides to weave round the gates.

If a train hits a car, then there is always going to be the same result, as the train is much heavier.

If there were gates on both sides, this would not be possible, but would obviously cost a lot more to install.

Long gone are the days when there used to be a station keeper opening and closing the gates.You had to wait longer for this to happen but the possibillty of accidents such as this one were almost non existent.Still extremely sad for this have happened at all.